Friday, December 3, 2010

Biotherapy

Mixed messages from science reporting on a whole bunch of news webpages that just blithely copy each other.E.g., "A new study, which will feature in the International Conference on Biotherapy being held in Los Angeles, has established that using maggots, leeches, and intestinal worms as an alternative to the pills may cure infections and allergies.""science is beginning to back up their anecdotal claims that maggots, leeches and intestinal worms may be effective in the fight against everything from irritable bowel disease to allergies and psoriasis""the use of leeches, maggots and parasitic worms can help cure everything from irritable bowel syndrome to common allergies"

HOWEVER... while leeches have been approved as a medical device by the FDA, it's got nothing to do with infection, allergy, IBS, or psoriasis. Their use is purely mechanical removal of congested blood in tissue that need time for the restoration of venous circulation. End of story. Nothing magic.